1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of kits for handling hypodermic syringes used to self-administer medication, and, more specifically, to a kit for assisting patients in drawing medication into hypodermic syringes for self-administering the medication and then disposing of the syringes after use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many physicians prescribe medications which patients must self-administer through the use of hypodermic syringes, i.e. the patient must inject himself or herself with the medication in the home or otherwise outside of the presence of a health professional such as a doctor or nurse. For example, patients undergoing fertility regimens must be injected by their partners, or diabetics must take insulin, all without going to their doctor""s office. The elderly make up a particularly large percentage of those who must undergo such self-administering regimens.
Self-administration makes one step in the dispensing of medication easier, in that the patient does not have to make a trip to the doctor for the medication, but introduces other concerns which must be addressed for the safe and efficacious administration of the medication, as well as the disposal of the contaminated syringe after use.
The physical process of drawing medication into a syringe, and then injecting it into one""s own body presents many possible dangers and pitfalls.
First, many patients are understandably nervous or uncertain handling the sharp needle of a hypodermic syringe. A patient having unsteady hands or poor vision is at particular risk of accidental needlesticks, and the knowledge of this risk often increases the uneasiness of the user in his or her handling of the syringe.
Second, having unskilled patients dispense their own medication presents the problem of metering the proper dosage of the medication to be dispensed. The indicia present on the side of most syringes to demark dosages are quite small, and may be difficult to read for some if not most or all patients.
Third, many users may find it difficult to handle the syringe itself during the initial drawing of medication into the syringe from the storage vial, since the process may require some degree of dexterity to complete. The user must hold the vial of medication steady while inserting a sharp hypodermic needle through a hard rubber stopper at an angle near perpendicular. Then, after piercing the stopper with the needle, the combination of the syringe and the vial must be held together with a single hand, while the plunger of the syringe is drawn back with the other hand, to draw the proper amount of medication into the syringe.
It requires no small degree of dexterity to hold the various pieces together, and some manual strength to cause the needle to pierce the stopper.
Furthermore, proper handling of the hypodermic syringe after use is also problematic and hazardous. While the possibility of infection is not present in self-administration, accidental needlesticks after use can themselves be dangerous and must still be avoided.
Finally, once the syringe has been used successfully, it must be disposed of safely, without endangering third parties with possible exposure to the contaminated needle while guarding against accidental needlesticks.
All in all, therefore, the self-administration of medications is fraught with many possible dangers and difficulties, which are not satisfactorily addressed in the prior art.
There is accordingly a need in the art for solutions to these concerns that will render the self-administration of medication through the use of hypodermic syringes safe and effective, without the need for close monitoring by a health professional.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a kit for safely handling of hypodermic syringes used in the self-administration of the medication.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a covered guide for handling of hypodermic syringes for the self-administration of medication, in which the tip of the needle of the syringe is covered by the guide, so that the user thereof is not at risk for accidental needlesticks when inserting the needle into a vial of medication for dispensing of the medication.
It is yet another object of the invention to assist users in properly metering dosages of self-administered medications to be dispensed with hypodermic syringes.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a safe and effective means for disposing of contaminated hypodermic needles after usage, without exposing third parties to the possibility of accidental needlesticks.
Briefly stated, there is provided a two-component kit for assisting in the handling of contaminated hypodermic needles during and after use. The first component provides a guide for assisting a user in drawing medication from a storage vial into a hypodermic syringe. The vial containing the medication has a conventional self-sealing stopper. The hypodermic syringe has a needle at one end thereof and a plunger disposed therein. The guide includes means for retaining the hypodermic syringe in a first location, in which the needle is exposed, and means for guiding the vial into a second location in which the needle pierces the stopper, thereby permitting the needle to contact the medication. The retaining means retains the hypodermic needle in the first location when the plunger is moved, thereby drawing the medication into the hypodermic syringe for administration by the user. The second component of the kit provides a sharps container or holder for storing the contaminated hypodermic syringes after use, which holder includes a chamber for non-releasably securing and storing the contaminated hypodermic syringes and a resilient support for temporarily supporting holding one of the contaminated hypodermic syringes above the chamber. The holder also includes a pusher member mounted on a movable cover for urging the pusher into contact with a contaminated hypodermic syringes that is supported by the deflectable support. In this fashion, the pusher is movable into contact with and urges downward the contaminated hypodermic syringe, thereby deflecting the resilient support and causing the contaminated hypodermic syringe to non-removeably enter the chamber for its safe retention and disposal.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.